Educational Science

'Dwarf dinosaur' that lived on prehistoric island unearthed in Transylvania

If you think of Transylvania, you might imagine a place populated by vampires and werewolves. Now, you can add dwarf dinosaurs to that list. A group of researchers recently identified a new species of dinosaur from the region, dubbing it Transylvanosaurus platycephalus, or, flat-headed reptile from Transylvania. And it's part...

Scientists find the earliest evidence of a dinosaur eating a mammal

Around 120 million years ago, a crow-size raptor gobbled up a mammal for its last meal. Researchers came across the last supper of the Microraptor, a birdlike carnivorous dinosaur with four wings, while examining its fossilized remains at an undisclosed museum in China, a new study reveals. The well-preserved fossil...

The sale of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, which was expected to fetch up to $25 million, has been controversially called off shortly before the behemoth's bones were due to hit the auction block. The cancellation comes after experts raised concerns that a significant proportion of the bones are actually replicas...

Mammals were already poised to take over the world before the dino-killing asteroid struck

Dinosaurs largely died off when a Manhattan-size asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago. Meanwhile, in the shadows, tiny mammals had steadily picked up adaptations that helped them survive the disaster and thrive in its aftermath, a new study suggests. The study, published Wednesday (Dec. 7) in the journal...

Velociraptors probably didn't use their 'wicked' claws for slashing, surprising new study suggests

Deinonychus and its dino relatives may not have used their wicked, curved claws to slash and disembowel their victims; instead, these fearsome hunters may have used these claws to pin and grasp their helpless prey. In new research, scientists observed the red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata), a South American predatory bird...

Longest dinosaur neck ever stretched further than a school bus at 49 feet long

The longest-necked dinosaur on record was a Jurassic beast with a 49.5-foot-long (15.1 meters) neck, a new study finds. That's more than six times the length of a giraffe's neck and about 10 feet (3 m) longer than the length of a school bus. This long-necked sauropod, known as Mamenchisaurus...

Jurassic World’s bizarre, scythe-clawed dinosaur couldn't have been a slasher, study confirms

An utterly bizarre dinosaur with claws so gigantic that their function has long remained a mystery couldn't use them to fight or fend off attackers because they were too flimsy, a new study has found. The theropod dinosaur, Therizinosaurus, lived in the Late Triassic and Cretaceous (220 million to 66...

Ravenous meat-eating dinosaur's guts preserved in exceptionally rare fossil

More than 100 million years ago, a fearsome birdlike dinosaur was swept into a lake and transformed into an exceptional fossil in what is now China, preserving one of the few intact gut remnants known from nonavian dinosaurs, a new study finds. Paleontologists knew they had unearthed something special when...

Ancient bird with T. rex-like skull discovered in China

About 120 million years ago, a fearsome bird with a skull that looked eerily similar to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex flew the early Cretaceous skies, hunting for a meaty meal to gobble down, a new study finds. A newly described specimen of this previously unknown species provides clues about...

Ancestors of 'veggie' dinosaurs actually feasted on meat

It's long been believed that Tyrannosaurus rex was a meat-eating maniac while long-necked dinosaurs serenely chomped away at leaves in the background. However, a new study suggests that dinosaurs' diets were far more diversified than previously thought. To get a better idea of what different dinosaurs actually ate, paleobiologists from...